When the Chips Are Down, TV Usually Backs the Gamblers

The first question Bob Costas asked Pete Axthelm after New England had beaten Miami last Sunday was what the point spread would be for the Super Bowl.

There wasn’t time for postgame interviews with any of the players, but apparently there was time to talk about the spread.

It was yet another example of television’s attachment to gambling.

Why do you think CBS has Jimmy the Greek? Because of his identification with gambling, that’s why. It’s the only possible reason.

Although NBC’s Axthelm does some creative and imaginative pieces, which the Greek never does, his main function seems to be offering spreads and picks.

Meanwhile, on cable television, gambling-type shows are becoming more prevalent.

Three segments of a show called “Sportsline,” which is taped at the sportsbook in Caesars Palace and offers the casino’s official line, ran on Friday nights at 9 on ESPN during the three weeks of the NFL playoffs. A fourth segment, in which the Super Bowl will be analyzed, will be televised a week from tonight.

“Pro Line,” a half-hour syndicated show in which two Las Vegas analysts, Jim Feist and Lee Pete, offer their picks, was televised on the four-hour “SCORE” program on the Financial News Network during the NFL’s regular season. “Pro Line” will soon be back on the air, offering NBA selections.

A similar show, “Beat the Pros,” with Ed Horowitz and Mike Warren, is televised Sunday mornings on the USA network. The show’s producer buys the air time from the network. As part of the package, the producer also buys a certain number of commercials for a tout sheet. So viewers sometimes see tout-sheet commercials right in the middle of, say, a college basketball game. Tacky.

The way television treats it, you’d think gambling was legal throughout the country. Of course, some radio stations and many newspapers are also guilty of catering to the gambling element in sports.

Some broadcasting executives and newspaper editors argue that since the public wants gambling information, it’s their obligation to provide it.

“We’re not telling them to gamble,” they rationalize. “And, anyway, what’s wrong with making a little friendly wager?”

Nothing, as long as it’s a little friendly wager.

On the other hand, there are people who have suffered through a gambling addiction and have had their lives destroyed, losing everything--jobs, families, homes.

Art Schlichter, former quarterback for the Baltimore and Indianapolis Colts, fell victim to gambling and thereby dealt his career a severe blow. He was suspended for a year by NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle, underwent treatment as a compulsive gambler and still owes about $1 million that he borrowed to support his gambling habit.

“I’ll never be cured,” he said of his addiction a year ago. “I’m through betting, but the disease is still inside me.”

A spokesman for ESPN said his network had some reservations about carrying “Sportsline.” The network even sent one of its programming executives to Las Vegas to oversee the taping of the first show.

“In the East, it runs at midnight,” the spokesman said. “We purposely tried to hide it a little, much the way a newspaper does when it prints odds in the back of its sports section.”

Frank Brill, the show’s executive producer, said: “We are very concerned about the content of our show. I think we are more conservative than the networks are with their NFL pregame shows. We impose restrictions on ourselves. Although we offer the Caesars line, we don’t have our regular people making picks or ever mentioning odds. They just offer information and analysis.”

The show’s experts are two Los Angeles sportswriters, Doug Krikorian of the Herald Examiner and Rick Talley of the Daily News, and Philadelphia sports analyst Mickey Charles.

“The main purpose of our show is to enhance the image of Caesars Palace as a glamorous entertainment establishment,” Brill said.

Arnie Rosenthal, general manager of “SCORE,” said: “I have no moral problem with running a show like ‘Pro Line,’ as long as it’s segregated from the rest of the show. I wouldn’t want one of our four regular anchors talking about odds and making picks.”

Jim Zrake, the executive producer of sports for the USA network, said: “I’m not thrilled about running ‘Beat the Pros.’ I doubt that we’ll pick it up next season. But looking at it professionally, I don’t think it’s terribly wrong. As a programmer, we try to provide something for everyone.”

John Filippelli, the producer of NBC’s “NFL ‘85,” said: “We don’t put our head in the sand. We recognize that gambling exists. But that doesn’t mean we endorse it.”

People are still going to gamble on sports no matter what the media do, but that doesn’t mean the media should encourage it.

Notes On Jan. 6, Jim Healy began his second year at radio station KMPC. Gene Autry, who owns the station, deserves credit for giving Healy a tremendous amount of freedom. Healy played his choking tape when the Angels, who are also owned by Autry, lost out in the American League West last October. Madam Ram is still one of Healy’s favorite topics, even though Georgia Frontiere’s Rams have a contract with KMPC. He has been vocal in his criticism of Dieter Brock, and he has also been critical of the Clippers and UCLA, both of which are carried by KMPC. Said Healy: “At no time has Bill Ward (the station’s general manager) or Gene Autry ever made a suggestion about what to say or not say on the air, nor has either ever offered criticism about anything I said.”

HBO’s coverage of tonight’s Tony Tubbs-Tim Witherspoon fight at the Omni in Atlanta will be produced by Linda Jackson Christian. HBO says she is the first woman to produce a heavyweight title fight for television. Christian joined HBO in 1978, became an associate producer in 1980 and produced her first sports event in 1982 when the pay-cable network televised the national collegiate boxing finals. Most of HBO’s fights have been produced by Ross Greenberg, who is now the network’s executive producer of sports. . . . Another woman in boxing is Susan Stratton, the producer-director of the Laker telecasts on Channel 9. She has also been producing the boxing telecasts on the Prime Ticket network. . . . Begining Monday, KIK-fm in Santa Ana will carry periodic reports from the fights at the Irvine Marriott. The reporter will be Christine Martindale.

The Mizlou network’s coverage of Saturday’s Senior Bowl at Mobile, Ala., will be shown on Channel 11 at 10 a.m. Local players in the game include tight end Joe Cormier of USC, offensive lineman Robert Cox of UCLA and cornerback Mark Collins of Cal State Fullerton. Bo Jackson will also play, as will suspended TCU star Kenneth Davis. The announcers will be Howard David and Ray Perkins. The sideline announcer will be Becky Dickson, a 33-year-old mother of two who does football play-by- play for the University of Tulsa. . . . How popular are the Chicago Bears? NFL Films plans to have a video about the Bears’ season on the market two weeks after the Super Bowl. . . . Former L.A. and San Diego sportscaster Eddie Alexander has resurfaced. He is now doing a half-hour weekend show for KSTS-TV in San Jose.

Ratings game: The NFC championship game on CBS, with a national Nielsen rating of 32.5, edged the AFC championship game on NBC, which drew a 32.4. The Ram-Chicago Bear game got an L.A. rating of 38.7 with a 75% share of the audience. In Chicago, it got a 55.6 rating and an 84 share. . . . Prime Ticket continues to offer a variety of sports: indoor soccer tonight, women’s basketball Saturday night and gymnastics Sunday night. The gymnastics is a UCLA-Fullerton dual meet. Half of the telecast will be devoted to the men, the other half to the women. Among the announcers is Olympic star Tim Daggett. . . . Preceding Channel 56’s coverage of Saturday’s 1 p.m. game between Nevada Las Vegas and Cal State Fullerton will be a half-hour pregame show, “Hoop Scoop,” with the Clippers’ Benoit Benjamin and UC Irvine Coach Bill Mulligan as the guests. . . . UCLA-Notre Dame basketball will be on NBC at 11:30 a.m. . . . Did anybody notice that the Clippers had only one radio announcer with them on their last trip? For economy’s sake, they left commentator Ted Green at home.